Sterilizing floor array

ABSTRACT

Various devices for sterilizing a surface and an object in contact with the surface are disclosed. For example, a first device includes an ultraviolet light source, a touch sensor, a processing system, and a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium stores instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations that include detecting, via the touch sensor, a tactile state of the device, detecting a tactile state of at least one additional device, determining, based upon the tactile states, that the device is on an edge of a pattern of contact between an object and a surface comprising the device and the at least one additional device, and implementing an action associated with the ultraviolet light source in response to determining that the device is on the edge of the pattern of contact.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/670,922, filed Aug. 7, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,238,763, which isherein incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The present disclosure relates to devices, apparatuses, and methods forsterilizing a surface and an object in contact with the surface. Forexample, the present disclosure provides for the intelligent use ofultraviolet light on surfaces, e.g., floors, steps, stoops, escalators,or similar surfaces to decontaminate and sterilize both the surface andobjects that come into contact with the surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The teachings of the present disclosure can be readily understood byconsidering the following detailed description in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example device, or tile, according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system, according to one embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for sterilizing asurface and an object in contact with the surface, according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an additional example method forsterilizing a surface and an object in contact with the surface,according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of another example method for sterilizinga surface and an object in contact with the surface, according to oneembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an example high-level block diagram of a computerspecifically programmed to perform the steps, functions, blocks, and/oroperations described herein.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe Figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Pathogens, comprising bacteria, protozoa and viruses that are infectiousagents that cause diseases in humans, are a significant health hazard.The systemic over-use of antibiotics in the treatment of human diseases,as well as in livestock management, has created a situation where manypreviously treatable strains of bacteria are now resistant to manyantibiotics. Additionally, there are limited sterilization treatmentsfor viruses and environmental protozoa that do not themselves havesignificantly negative health impact on people. It has been recognizedthat the broad spectrum ultraviolet (UV) light, commonly found insunlight, is effective in sterilization, preventing a pathogen frominfecting a host, because UV light penetrates the pathogens' smallercells, or virus virions, and damages the DNA of the pathogen,effectively killing it directly or preventing it from reproducing.

The present disclosure describes devices, apparatuses, computer-readablemedia, and methods for sterilizing a surface. In one example, a deviceincludes an ultraviolet light source, a touch sensor, a processingsystem, and a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable mediumstores instructions which, when executed by the processing system, causethe processing system to perform operations. The operations includedetecting, via the touch sensor, a tactile state of the device,detecting a tactile state of at least one additional device,determining, based upon the tactile state of the device and the tactilestate of the at least one additional device, that the device is on anedge of a pattern of contact between an object and a surface comprisingthe device and the at least one additional device, and implementing anaction associated with the ultraviolet light source in response todetermining that the device is on the edge of the pattern of contact.

In another example, an additional apparatus, computer-readable medium,and method are disclosed. For example, a method includes a processingsystem receiving signals from a plurality of touch sensors of aplurality of devices forming a surface, and detecting, based upon thesignals from the plurality of touch sensors, a pattern of contactbetween an object and a surface comprising the plurality of devices. Inone example, the plurality of devices further includes a plurality ofultraviolet light sources. The processing system may then sendinstructions to the plurality of devices to provide an ultraviolet lightemitting pattern via the plurality of ultraviolet light sources, wherethe ultraviolet light emitting pattern is based upon the pattern ofcontact.

In another example, an additional device, computer-readable medium, andmethod are disclosed. For example, a device includes an ultravioletlight source, a touch sensor, a processing system, and acomputer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium storesinstructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause theprocessor to perform operations. The operations include detecting, viathe touch sensor, a tactile state of the device, reporting the tactilestate of the device to a controller, receiving an instruction from thecontroller for operating the ultraviolet light source, and implementingan action associated with the ultraviolet light source in response tothe instruction.

Shoes, wheels, human feet, animal paws or hoofs, and similar items arein regular ground contact and in proximity to biological microbialcontamination (bacteria, virus, mold, fungi, and similar) on the ground.These items are regularly contaminated and cross multiple physicallydistinct domains with different implicit or explicit levels ofcleanliness or contamination, including indoors, outdoors, residential,commercial, and vehicles, which allows biological (and other)contaminants to inadvertently cross from one domain to another. Somedomains, such as cars, trains, planes, buses, elevators, escalators, andtravellators are themselves mobile, increasing the cross contaminationrisk by relocating the contaminated surfaces themselves. Ground contactsurface contamination mitigation is normally considered only in highrisk areas, and cross contamination (tracking) is common but rarelyconsidered, thereby resulting in significant disease spread.

Examples of the present disclosure comprise an ultraviolet (UV) lightsterilization system in a tile/grid surface arrangement. In one example,each tile includes a touch sensor and a UV light source. The touchsensors may comprise pressure sensors such that when pressure is appliedto specific areas of the surface (e.g., comprising multiple tiles), UVlight is emitted from below at the point(s) of contact to sterilize bothwhere the surface is contacted and the portion of the object that ismaking the contact. The UV light source may comprise a UV light emittingdiode (LED).

In one example, only the area that is contacted is UV exposed, reducinginadvertent exposure to other parts of the body or object, avoidingdistracting lighting effects, and reducing the overall power needs ofthe implementation. In one example, the pressure exerted upon thesurface provides some or all of the power utilized to emit the UV light(e.g., via a UV LED). For instance, the pressure sensors may comprisepiezoelectric or fluid motion capture units, or the tiles may includeseparate piezoelectric or fluid motion capture units to generate powerfrom compression. In another example, tiles/devices may be powered viaembedded solar collector(s) or may be externally powered. In oneexample, power may be shared via power connections from tile to tile.Some or all of the tiles may also include rechargeable batteries.

In one example, external wired/wireless communications can controladditional functionality. For instance, all UV light sources on asurface may be remotely activated when a room is empty. Theimplementation can be in a tile, a mat, or the like, and may be embeddedin a flooring or comprise an overlay to an existing or underlyingflooring. Examples of the present disclosure may also be implemented asflexible units for applications such as escalators, travellators,conveyor belts in a warehouse or factory, and so forth.

In one example, UV illumination may be most intense for maximumsterilization of transient contacts, and applied at a continued lowerintensity level for extended contact. In one example, tiles maycoordinate with each other, or via a centralized controller, todetermine the edges of an object, such as a footprint. The tiles on theedges of the footprint may then use a lesser intensity of UV light ormay not activate in order to provide a guard band and prevent UV lightfrom spilling over. In another example, extra UV activation may beprovided in tiles that are not contacted, but which are near/adjacent tothe tiles that are contacted. For example, a person's pants may hangover the shoe and drag on the floor, thus becoming contaminated, but notproviding enough pressure to activate a touch sensor of a tile.Therefore, UV activation may be expanded beyond the tiles that areactually contacted by a footstep or other object. In one example, alesser intensity UV may be used on tiles outside of the actual footprint(e.g., to avoid unnecessary skin exposure). In another example, higherintensity may be used, to give a better chance of decontamination on theirregularly shaped surfaces of the pants.

In this regard, it should be noted that examples of the presentdisclosure may utilize UV light of any one or more of UV-A, UV-B, andUV-C bands. However, example devices may employ at least onelight-emitting diode (LED) or other UV light sources emitting in theUV-C range, e.g., within a portion of the spectrum from 190-225nanometers, that disrupts reproduction of smaller pathogens, e.g.,viruses, bacteria and protozoa, but is non-damaging to larger humancells. More specifically, light at approximately 207 nanometers (e.g.,at or around 207 nanometers), is able to penetrate the smaller bacteriaand protozoa cells, as well as virions (virus particles) but does notpenetrate larger human cells.

In one example, the system may select which UV band(s) to activate atvarious tiles depending upon the type of contact and/or the objectmaking the contact. For example, a paw or bare foot may be restricted toapplication of UV-C, whereas for a box, UV-A, UV-B, or both UV-A andUV-B (and also UV-C) may be applied, and so on. In one example, for ashoe contact, UV-A, UV-B, and/or UV-C may be applied at tiles near thecenter of the shoe print, while around the edges, application may berestricted to UV-C. In one example, the “edge” may comprise the lasttiles that are contacted within a contact pattern of the object. Inanother example, the “edge” may comprise tiles that are just beyond thelast tiles contacted by the object. In general, different UV bands,intensities, and application durations can be utilized depending uponwhether contact is a human footstep versus an animal contact, whether afootstep is barefoot or with a shoe, the pressure of a footstep and/or astride size (e.g., adult versus child, running versus walking, etc.),whether the contact is a box, a cart wheel, or other inanimate objectsinstead of a live object, depending upon the level of protection desired(e.g., surgical suites, emergency rooms, ambulances, etc. versus homes,offices, hotels, and so forth), depending upon the power available,depending upon power utilization preferences as determined by amanufacturer, installer, owner, operator, and so on.

In one example, one or more tiles may including central processing units(CPUs), microcontrollers, or the like, e.g., a processor andmemory/computer-readable media to perform operations to collectivelydistinguish between different types of contacting objects based uponmultiple touch sensors, to distinguish the edges of objects, and soforth, as well as to select the different UV bands, intensities, andapplication durations to be applied via various tiles (e.g., higherintensity in the center of footprint, lesser intensity at the edges,only UV-C at edge tiles, and so on). The processor may perform patternmatching to match a pattern of contact of an object with a surface to alibrary of known patterns. In one example, a particular person may betracked through a system to determine that the person's shoes have beencompletely sterilized. Therefore, the intensity of UV illumination forthis person may be scaled down thereafter. However, if the person isapproaching a surgical suite, the person's shoes may be subjected tohigher intensity UV, regardless of whether the shoes have already beenwell sterilized. In another example, a pattern of footsteps may betracked and the intensity of UV light applied at each successive stepmay be reduced. For instance, upon an initial contact with a surface, itmay be determined that a pair of shoes is contacting the surface (ascompared to any other kind of object). Thereafter, the same pair ofshoes may be identified as making subsequent contact with other parts ofthe surface based upon a contact pattern of the same size and shape,e.g., the same shoe size and sole pattern.

In one example, the calculations and operations described above may beperformed by one or more computing units integrated in one or more ofthe tiles, which may provide instructions to various tiles tocollectively irradiate a footprint or other contacts in a controlledmanner (e.g., decreasing intensity near the edge, UV-C near the edge orover the edge, and so forth). In another example, an external computingdevice, e.g., a “controller,” may receive touch sensor information fromvarious tiles, perform various calculations, and return instructions toone or more tiles in the grid with regard to whether or not to apply UVlight, which band(s) of UV light to apply, the duration and/or intensityof the light to apply, and so on.

In one example, tiles may include wireless communication modules. Inanother example, tiles may modularly plug into one another to createshared buses via which tiles can communicate with one another and/orwith an external computing device, and which may also be used to receiveexternal power and/or to distribute power among the respective tiles(for both power that may be externally provided or for power that isgenerated by any one or more of the interconnected tiles using internalsolar cells, piezoelectric transducers, or other types of internal powergenerators). These and other features of the present disclosure aredescribed in greater detail below and in connection with FIGS. 1-6.

To aid in understanding the present disclosure, FIG. 1 illustrates ingreater detail an example device, or tile 100, according to the presentdisclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the tile 100 includes a UV lightsource 130 and a touch sensor 120. In one example, the UV light source130 comprises a UV LED, which may provide a negligible (or zero)contribution to the overall thickness of the tile 100. However, examplesof the present disclosure may also utilize incandescent or halogen UVlight bulbs. The touch sensor 120 may comprise a piezoelectric touchsensor, e.g., a piezoelectric transducer, or a fluid motion captureunit, e.g., employing reverse electro-wetting, or reverseelectro-wetting with a bubbler, a resistive touch sensor, a surfacecapacitive sensor, a projected capacitive sensor, a surface acousticwave (SAW) sensor, an infrared sensor, and so forth. In one example, thethickness of the tile 100 may account for the thickness of the touchsensor 120, inclusive of electrode films, substrate layers, protectivelayers, spacer layers, reflective tape layers, and so forth, dependingupon the particular type of touch sensing technology utilized for touchsensor 120.

In the example of FIG. 1, the tile 100 further includes a processor 110configured to perform various operations in connection with sterilizinga surface and an object in contact with the surface. The processor 110is connected to the touch sensor 120 to receive signals indicating acontact of an object with the tile 100. The processor 110 is alsoconnected to the UV light source 130 to provide signals to activateand/or to disengage emission of UV light from the UV light source 130.In one example, memory 115 may store instructions which, when executedby processor 110, cause the processor to perform various operations asdescribed in the example method 300, method 400, and/or method 500below. In one example, processor 110, and/or processor 110 together withmemory 115 may comprise a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, or the like. In addition, it should be noted that asused herein, the terms “configure,” and “reconfigure” may refer toprogramming or loading a processing system withcomputer-readable/computer-executable instructions, code, and/orprograms, e.g., in a distributed or non-distributed memory, which whenexecuted by a processor, or processors, of the processing system withina same device or within distributed devices, may cause the processingsystem to perform various functions. Such terms may also encompassproviding variables, data values, tables, objects, or other datastructures or the like which may cause a processing system executingcomputer-readable instructions, code, and/or programs to functiondifferently depending upon the values of the variables or other datastructures that are provided. As referred to herein a “processingsystem” may comprise a computing device including one or moreprocessors, or cores (e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 6 and discussedbelow) or multiple computing devices collectively configured to performvarious steps, functions, and/or operations in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the tile 100 also includes a transceiver 140for communicating with other tiles and/or with a centralized controllervia a communication bus 180. In the example of FIG. 1, transceiver 140is for wired communications. However, in another example, transceiver140 may be for wireless communications, e.g., for Institute forElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 based communications(e.g., “Wi-Fi”), IEEE 802.15 based communications (e.g., “Bluetooth”,“ZigBee”, etc.), and so forth. The transceiver 140 may send and receivecommunications as part of a wired or wireless ad-hoc and/or mesh networkof other tiles (and in some examples, including a controller).

In the example of FIG. 1, tile 100 further includes a power unit 150 forgenerating, distributing, storing, and/or receiving electrical power.For instance, power unit 150 may comprise a rechargeable battery thatmay provide power to components of the tile 100 and may further providepower to or receive power from other tiles via power distribution lines190 and power ports 195. In one example, power unit 150 mayalternatively or additionally comprise a piezoelectric transducer, afluid motion capture unit, and so forth. In another example, the touchsensor 120 may comprise a piezoelectric transducer or a fluid motioncapture unit to both convert pressure/mechanical energy into electricalenergy and to detect an object touching the tile 100. In such anexample, touch sensor 120 may distribute electrical energy to power unit150 for distribution to other components of tile 100 and/or toadditional interconnected tiles. Alternatively, or in addition, touchsensor 120 may distribute at least a portion of the electrical energythat is generated directly to other components of tile 100. In anotherexample, power unit 150 may comprise a solar cell to generate and storesolar energy, and to distribute electrical power. In still anotherexample, power unit 150 may comprise a solar cell as well as apiezoelectric transducer or a fluid motion capture unit, or may comprisea solar cell and receive additional electrical power from a touch sensor120 comprising a piezoelectric transducer or a fluid motion captureunit. For ease of illustration, connections between power unit 150 andother components of tile 100 are omitted from the example of FIG. 1.

The communication bus 180 may be externally connected to a controllerand/or to other tiles via communication ports 185. Similarly, the powerdistribution lines 190 may be connected to a power source and/or toother tiles via power ports 195. For instance, additional tiles may havethe same or similar dimensions and layout as tile 100 such that theadditional tiles may be connected via the communication ports 185 and/orpower ports 195 on any side of tile 100. In addition, if the tile 100 isplaced at the edge of a surface, a controller may be connected to tile100 via one of the communication ports 185 on a side of tile 100 that isexposed at the edge of the surface. The controller may communicate withthe tile 100 and may also communicate with additional connected tilesvia the communication bus 180. Similarly, a power source may beconnected to the tile 100 via one of the power ports 195 on the side ofthe tile 100 that is exposed at the edge of the surface. Power receivedfrom a power source may then be further distributed to other connectedtiles via power distribution lines 195. These aspects of the presentdisclosure are further illustrated in connection with the example ofFIG. 2.

In one example, all or a portion of the components of tile 100 maycomprise an integrated circuit, or may comprise components that areattached to an integrated circuit that may be situated between at leasta top external layer and a bottom external layer of the tile 100. Thetop external layer (and any other layers above the UV light source 130)may be fully or partially transparent to allow UV light to irradiate anyobject that comes into contact with the tile 100. It should also benoted that although FIG. 1 illustrates a tile 100 with a UV light source130, a touch sensor 120, a power unit 150, and so forth, in other,further, and different examples, a tile may include multiple touchsensors, UV light sources, power units, etc. In addition, although tile100 is illustrated as having a rectangular shape, in other, further, anddifferent examples, a tile may have another shape, such as triangulartiles, hexagonal tiles, irregular shaped tiles, and so forth.

To aid in understanding the present disclosure, FIG. 2 illustrates anexample system 200, according to the present disclosure. As illustratedin FIG. 2, system 200 includes interconnected tiles 210-269 arranged ina grid. For ease of illustration, tiles 210-269 are illustrated with agap between adjacent tiles. However, it should be understood that tiles210-269 may be physically interconnected, in addition to havingelectrical interconnections for signaling and communications, and/or forpower distribution. For instance, tiles 210-269 may have the same or asimilar form as the example tile 100 of FIG. 1. Collectively, the tiles210-269 may comprise a “surface.” The tiles 210-269 may be deployed as afloor and/or a floor covering. For instance, the tiles 210-269 may bedeployed over a concrete slab or over a wood sub-floor, may be deployedover hardwood floor or carpeting, and so forth. Tiles 210-269 may alsobe deployed over outdoor surfaces, such as wood decking, stone andmasonry patios, steps, stoops, and so forth. In one example, each of thetiles 210-269 may include a pattern for interlocking with adjacent tilesto form the surface.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the system 200 may include an externalcontroller 290 and a power source 280. The controller 290 and powersource 280 are illustrated as connecting to the grid of tiles 210-269via tile 213, e.g., via a communication port and a power portrespectively. Accordingly, the controller 290 may communicate with anyof the tiles 210-269 via communication buses of the tiles 210-269.Similarly, power source 280 may provide power to tiles 210-269 via powerdistribution lines of the tiles 210-269. For ease of illustration,details of the communication buses, power distribution lines, and othercomponents of the tiles 210-269 are omitted from FIG. 2. However, itshould be understood that tiles 210-269 may respectively include all ora portion of the components of the example tile 100 of FIG. 1. In oneexample, the controller 290 and tiles 210-269 may communicate as a wiredor wireless mesh and/or ad-hoc network.

In one example, the power source 280 may comprise an alternating current(AC) power source, e.g., a connection to a wall outlet, or a hardwiredconnection to a junction box, a circuit breaker, a main electricalpanel, a sub-panel, and so forth. In one example, the power source 280may comprise one or more of: a rechargeable battery, a generator, asolar cell, a solar panel and/or a solar array, a wind turbine, and soforth. The controller 290 may comprise a computing system, such ascomputing system 600 depicted in FIG. 6, and may be configured toprovide one or more functions for sterilizing a surface and an object incontact with the surface, in accordance with the present disclosure.

To illustrate, controller 290 may receive signals from tiles 210-269indicating when the respective tiles have been contacted by an object.Alternatively, or additionally, the controller 290 may receive signalsfrom tiles 210-269 indicating that the respective tiles are not beingcontacted by an object. In one example, tiles 210-269 may utilize anycontention scheme to coordinate the sending of signals to the controller290. Continuing with the present example, tiles 223-227, 232-237,242-247, and 252-257 may send signals indicating that the respectivetiles have been contacted. From these signals, and with knowledge of thelayout of the tiles 210-269, the controller 290 may determine that thesignals indicate a pattern of contact 270 of an object with the portionof the surface comprising tiles 223-227, 232-237, 242-247, and 252-257.In one example, the controller 290 may determine a type of object basedupon a shape of the pattern of contact 270, a size of the pattern ofcontact 270, the strengths of the signals indicating how hard therespective tiles have been contacted, and so forth. For instance, thecontroller 290 may distinguish between human footsteps, animal contacts,and/or inanimate objects, whether a footstep is barefoot or with a shoe,whether a contact is an adult versus a child or a person running versuswalking, e.g., based upon pressure/force, and timing measurements fromtouch sensors of the respective tiles 223-227, 232-237, 242-247, and252-257, in conjunction with the size and shape of the pattern ofcontact 270, and so forth.

In one example, the controller 290 may include a library of patterns ofknown objects, or may have access to an external data source storingsuch a library. The controller 290 may therefore compare the pattern ofcontact 270 to one or more patterns of known objects to determine whathas contacted the portion of the surface comprising tiles 223-227,232-237, 242-247, and 252-257. Depending upon a determination of thetype of object making the contact (e.g., a human, animal, or inanimateobject), the size of the object (e.g., an adult versus a child), whethera contact is a bare foot or a type of footwear (for human footsteps),and so forth, the controller 290 may then select a UV light emittingpattern, in accordance with the present disclosure. In particular, thecontroller 290 may execute instructions which direct different UV lightemitting patterns to be applied depending upon criteria such as: thesize and shape of the pattern of contact 270, the type of objectdetected, level of disinfection/sterilization desired (e.g., surgicalsuites, emergency rooms, ambulances, etc. compared homes, offices,hotels, etc.), depending upon the power available, depending upon powerutilization preferences as determined by a manufacturer, installer,owner, operator, and so forth. The UV light emitting patterns mayinclude combinations of the UV band(s) of UV light, the intensities, andthe application durations to be applied via various tiles.

As just one example, the controller 290 may detect that the contact isan inanimate object, such as wheels on a rolling cart, the leg of achair or table, and so forth. In one example, to protect the eyes andother parts of a human that may be moving the object, the controller 290may select a UV light emitting pattern that restricts the emission of UVlight around the edges of the pattern of contact 270. For instance, alesser intensity or no application of UV light may be applied at tiles222-227, 232, 237, 241, 247, and 252-257, or an application of only UV-Clight may be applied at these tiles as compared to a higher intensityand/or an application of UV-A and/or UV-B light at tiles in the interiorof the pattern of contact 270 (e.g., at tiles 233-236 and 243-246). Inanother example, a lesser intensity of UV light or only UV-C light maybe applied at tiles 211-218, 221, 228, 231, 238, 241, 248, 251, 258, and261-268. In this regard, it should be noted that depending upon theparticular configuration, e.g., based on a manufacturer, owner,operator, or facility preference, that the “edge” of the pattern ofcontact 270 may comprise the outer tiles that are contacted within thepattern of contact 270, or tiles adjacent to and just beyond the outertiles that are contacted within the pattern of contact 270.

It should be noted that the system 200 is illustrative of onearchitecture that is suitable for implementing examples of the presentdisclosure. Thus, the present disclosure may also include any otherdifferent tile layouts, grid configurations, and mixtures of componentsin various tiles that are suitable for implementing examples of thepresent disclosure for sterilizing a surface and an object in contactwith the surface. Thus, those skilled in the art will realize that thesystem 200 may be expanded to include additional tiles, power sources,controllers, and so forth, or modifying or substituting thoseillustrated in FIG. 2, without altering the scope of the presentdisclosure. As an example, the controller 290 may be deployed at alocation that is different from the location of tiles 210-269. Forinstance, controller 290 may be deployed in a different room within asame facility, or may be maintained “in the cloud,” i.e., reachable viathe Internet in general.

In another example, operations that are described as being performed bycontroller 290 may instead be performed by a processor within one ormore of tiles 210-269. In another example, different tiles may havedifferent processing capabilities, different types of UV LEDs that maybe available, different types of touch sensors, different powergeneration and/or power storage capabilities, and so forth. Thus, forinstance, not all of the tiles may be capable of or configured toperform the operations of controller 290, but may still be configured tocommunicate touch signals and to receive UV light activation signals.

In addition, the foregoing examples of the patterns of contact that maybe detected, and the UV light emitting patterns that may be applied aredescribed for illustrative purposes only. For instance, in otherexamples, a higher intensity of UV light may be applied at tiles beyondthe pattern of contact 270. For instance, a manufacturer, owner,operator, or facility may prefer to provide enhanced UV lightsterilization for loose clothing, portions of furniture near thesurface, but which do not make contact with the surface, and so on. Instill another example, the processor 290 may track a pattern of contactthat includes multiple footsteps, and may apply diminishing intensitiesof UV light for each successive footstep, e.g., footsteps further down amonitored path will receive a decreasing amount of UV light and so on.

In still another example, tiles 210-269 may operate in a decentralizedmanner (e.g., without an external controller and without one or more oftiles 210-269 operating as a controller). For instance, each of tiles210-269 may be configured to communicate with adjacent (connected) tilesto determine whether the tile is on the edge of a pattern of contact andto select whether or not to activate a UV light source depending uponwhether it is determined that the tile is on the edge. For example, tile254 may send a signal to tiles 244, 253, 255, and 264 indicating thattile 254 is being contacted by an object. Tile 254 may also receivesignals from any of these adjacent tiles that are also being contacted.For example, tile 254 may receive signals from tiles 244, 253, and 255indicating that each of these tiles is also being contacted. However, nosignal (or a signal indicating no contact, e.g., a “non-contact” state)may be received from tile 264.

Accordingly, the processor of tile 254 may determine that it is at anedge of the pattern of contact 270 when: tile 254's own touch sensorindicates contact of an object, tiles 244, 253, and 255 provide signalsindicating that each of these tiles is also being contacted, but tile265 is not being contacted. In such an example, tile 254 may beconfigured to either suppress activation of a UV light source, to reducean intensity and/or a duration of application of a UV light, e.g., ascompared to if the tile 254 determines that it is a tile within theinterior of a pattern of contact (such as, tile 244, for instance), toactivate only a UV-C light source or a UV-C portion of a light source,and so forth. In a similar manner, tile 241, for example, may determinethat it is at the edge of the pattern of contact 270 (e.g., just outsidethe tiles that are actually contacted). If the system 200 is configuredto apply UV light at or beyond the edge of the pattern of contact of anobject, then tile 241 may also determine that it should activate a UVlight source, even though tile 241 does not itself detect that it iscontacted by the object. Thus, these and other modifications are allcontemplated within the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 300 for sterilizinga surface and an object in contact with the surface. In one embodiment,the method 300 is performed by a device such as tile 100 of FIG. 1, orany of tiles 210-269 of FIG. 2. Alternatively, or in addition, thesteps, functions, or operations of method 300 may be performed by adevice or system 600, and/or processor 602 as described in connectionwith FIG. 6 below. For instance, the system 600 may represent a tile 100of FIG. 1, or any of tiles 210-269 of FIG. 2. For illustrative purposes,the method 300 is described in greater detail below in connection withan example performed by a processor, such as processor 602. The methodbegins in step 305 and proceeds to step 310.

At step 310, the processor detects, via a touch sensor, a tactile stateof a device, or tile, in which the processor is deployed. For instance,the tactile state may comprise a “contact” state where the touch sensordetects contact by an object and a “non-contact” state where no contactby an object is detected by the touch sensor. In one example, the“contact” state may be further refined by an indication of the pressureor amount of force of the contact. The touch sensor may comprise apiezoelectric touch sensor, e.g., a piezoelectric transducer, or a fluidmotion capture unit, e.g., employing reverse electro-wetting, or reverseelectro-wetting with a bubbler, a resistive touch sensor, a surfacecapacitive sensor, a projected capacitive sensor, a surface acousticwave (SAW) sensor, an infrared sensor, and so forth. In an example wherethe touch sensor comprises a resistive touch sensor, a surfacecapacitive sensor, a projected capacitive sensor, a surface acousticwave (SAW) sensor, or an infrared sensor, the device may further includea power source comprising at least one of a piezoelectric transducer, afluid motion capture unit, or a solar cell.

At step 320, the processor detects a tactile state of at least oneadditional device. For example, the device and the at least oneadditional device may comprise all or a portion of a surface. In oneexample, the device and the at least one additional device may beadjacent devices, e.g., tiles, within the surface. In one example, thedevice includes a pattern for interlocking with a plurality ofadditional devices/tiles to form the surface. The surface may comprise,for example, a floor, an escalator, a travellator, a conveyor belt, andso forth. The at least one additional device may have a same or similarconfiguration as the device, e.g., having at least a touch sensor and aUV light source. The tactile state of the at least one additional devicemay be detected by receiving a signal from the at least one additionaldevice that indicates the at least one additional device is beingcontacted and/or a signal indicating that the at least one additionaldevice is not being contacted. In one example the signal from the atleast one additional device may also indicate a pressure or amount offorce of a contact. In one example, the signal from the at least oneadditional device may be received via a transceiver of the device. Thesignal may be sent and received via wired or wireless communication andmay utilize ad hoc and/or mesh networking protocols.

At step 330, the processor determines, based upon the tactile state ofthe device and the tactile state of the at least one additional device,that the device is on an edge of a pattern of contact between an objectand a surface comprising the device and the at least one additionaldevice. For instance, the device and the at least one additional devicemay be interconnected with one another as adjacent devices, or may benearby to one another, e.g., within one or two positions. In oneexample, the device and the at least one additional device may furtherbe deployed in a grid with further devices (e.g., further tiles). In oneexample, the processor may determine that the device is on the edge ofthe pattern of contact when the tactile state of the device is a“contact” state, and the tactile state of the at least one additionaldevice is “non-contact” state. For instance, the device may be a lastdevice within a pattern of contact moving away from a center of thepattern of contact that includes a number of devices. The processor mayalso determine that the device is on the edge of the pattern of contactwhen the tactile state of the device is “non-contact” state and thetactile state of the at least one additional device is a “contact”state. For instance, the device may be just beyond a last device withina pattern of contact moving away from a center of the pattern ofcontact.

At step 340, the processor implements an action associated with a UVlight source in response to determining that the device is on the edgeof the pattern of contact. For instance, when the tactile state of thedevice is a contact state and the tactile state of the at least oneadditional device is a non-contact state, the action may comprisereducing an intensity of the UV light source, e.g., as compared todevices within an interior of the pattern of contact, or suppressing anactivation of the UV light source, e.g., where it is typical to activatethe UV light source in response to a “contact” state of the touchsensor, unless the device is on the edge of the pattern of contact. Inanother example, when the tactile state of the device is a contact stateand the tactile state of the at least one additional device is anon-contact state, the action may comprise activating only a UV-C bandportion of the UV light source. For instance, the UV light source mayinclude UV emitters in a plurality of UV wavelength bands.

In another example, when the tactile state of the device is anon-contact state and the tactile state of the at least one additionaldevice is a contact state, the action may comprise activating the UVlight source. For instance, the activating the UV light source maycomprise activating only a UV-C portion of the UV light source. Ingeneral, the UV light source may be activated, or an activation of theUV light source may be suppressed, the duration of the application ofthe UV light source may be longer or shorter, the intensity may behigher or lower, the particular UV band(s) that is/are activated may beadjusted, and so forth depending upon the particular implementation. Forexample, some implementations may call for devices/tiles on the edges ofa pattern of contact to use a lesser intensity of UV light or to notactivate in order to provide a guard band and prevent UV light fromspilling over. In another example, extra UV activation may be providedin devices/tiles that are not contacted, but which are near/adjacent tothe devices/tiles that are contacted. Therefore, UV activation may beexpanded beyond the devices/tiles that are actually contacted by afootstep or other object. In one example, a lesser intensity UV may beused on tiles outside of the actual pattern of contact (e.g., to avoidskin exposure). In another example, a higher intensity may be used, togive a better chance of decontamination on the irregularly shapedsurfaces of a person's pants, shoelaces, or other hanging clothing.Following step 340, the method 300 proceeds to step 395 where the methodends.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an additional example method 400 forsterilizing a surface and an object in contact with the surface. In oneexample, the method 400 is performed by a controller, such as controller290 of FIG. 2. In another example, the method 400 is performed by adevice such as tile 100 of FIG. 1, or any of tiles 210-269 of FIG. 2.Alternatively, or in addition, the steps, functions, or operations ofmethod 400 may be performed by a device or system 600, and/or processor602 as described in connection with FIG. 6 below. For instance, thesystem 600 may represent a tile 100 of FIG. 1, a controller 290 or anyof tiles 210-269 of FIG. 2. Similarly, in one example, the steps,functions, or operations of method 400 may be performed by a processingsystem comprising one or more computing devices collectively configuredto perform various steps, functions, and/or operations of the method400. For instance, multiple instances of the computing device orprocessing system 600 may collectively function as a processing system,e.g., multiple tiles, a controller and/or a controller in conjunctionwith one or more tiles, and so forth. For illustrative purposes, themethod 400 is described in greater detail below in connection with anexample performed by a processor, such as processor 602. The methodbegins in step 405 and proceeds to step 410.

At step 410, the processor receives signals from a plurality of touchsensors of a plurality of devices forming a surface. In other words, thedevices, e.g., tiles, may include one or more patterns that define aninterlocking with a plurality of other devices/tiles to form one or moresurfaces. The surface may comprise, for example, a floor, an escalator,a travellator, a conveyor belt, and so forth. The plurality of devicesfurther includes a plurality of UV light sources. In one example, thesignals may indicate respective tactile states of the plurality of touchsensors. In another example, the signals may indicate only touch sensorsof devices which have been or are being contacted, where it is implicitthat touch sensors of other devices are not being contacted andtherefore do not send signals. In one example the signals from theplurality of touch sensors may also indicate a pressure or amount offorce of a contact. The signals may be received via wired or wirelesscommunication. In addition, the processor along with the devices formingthe surface may comprise an ad hoc or mesh network for sending andreceiving signals indicating tactile states, for receiving instructionsfor activating UV light sources, and so on.

At step 420, the processor detects, based upon the signals from theplurality of touch sensors, a pattern of contact between an object andthe surface comprising the plurality of devices. In one example, theprocessor may determine which devices forming the surface are beingcontacted and which are not. In one example, the processor may furtherdetermine a type of object, a size of the object (e.g., an adult or achild), a small or large animal, a large piece of furniture or a smallpiece of furniture, a large or small box, and so forth. In one example,the processor may perform pattern matching to match a pattern of contactof an object with a surface to a library of known patterns. In oneexample, the pattern of contact may also comprise successive contacts ofan object with different portions of the surface, such as footprints ofa person walking across a room, for instance.

At optional step 430, the processor may select a UV light emittingpattern based upon the pattern of contact and the type of the object.For instance, the UV light emitting pattern may comprise an applicationof a lesser intensity UV light at UV light sources of devices at an edgeof the pattern of contact as compared to an intensity or intensities ofUV light at UV light sources of devices within an interior of thepattern of contact. In one example, the plurality of UV light sourcesincludes UV emitters in a plurality of UV wavelength bands. In such anexample, the UV light emitting pattern may comprise an application ofonly ultraviolet C-band emitters at UV light sources of devices at anedge of the pattern of contact. In still another example, the UV lightemitting pattern may comprise an activation of the UV light sources ofdevices in an interior of the pattern of contact, with activation of theUV light sources of devices at an edge of the pattern of contact beingsuppressed. For example, a device may be configured to activate a UVlight source in one or more UV bands in response to the detection of acontact of an object with the device via a touch sensor of the device.However, an instruction received by the device within a certain periodof time directing the device to not activate the UV light source mayoverride this default configuration.

In general, some implementations may call for devices on the edges of apattern of contact to use a lesser intensity of UV light or to notactivate in order to provide a guard band and prevent UV light fromspilling over. In another example, extra UV activation may be providedin devices that are not contacted, but which are near/adjacent to thedevices that are contacted. Therefore, UV activation may be expandedbeyond the devices that are actually contacted by a footstep or otherobjects. In one example, a lesser intensity of UV light may be used ondevices outside of the actual pattern of contact (e.g., to avoid skinexposure). In another example, a higher intensity may be used, to give abetter chance of decontamination on the irregularly shaped surfaces of aperson's pants, shoelaces, or other hanging clothing. In addition, theUV light emitting pattern that is selected may vary depending upon thetype of object (e.g., live versus inanimate, human versus non-human,etc.), the size of the object, and so on.

At step 440, the processor sends instructions to the plurality ofdevices to provide a UV light emitting pattern via the plurality of UVlight sources, where the UV light emitting pattern is based upon thepattern of contact. For instance, the UV light emitting pattern may beselected at optional step 430, as described above. The instructions maybe sent to the plurality of devices via wired and/or wirelesscommunication depending upon the particular system in use and thecapabilities and configurations of the processor and the devices incommunication with the processor. In this regard, the devices may alsoinclude processors, microcontrollers, or the like to receiveinstructions and to activate UV light sources in accordance with theinstructions received.

At optional step 450, the processor may detect a duration of the contactbetween the object and the surface. For instance, successive signals ofthe plurality of touch sensors over a period of time may indicate to theprocessor a continuing contact between an object and the surface.

At optional step 460, the processor may adjust an intensity of the UVlight emitting pattern based upon the duration of the contact. Forinstance, in one example, the intensity of the UV light emitting pattern(e.g., the intensity or intensities of UV light emitted from theplurality of UV light sources) may be reduced for longer contacts. Inanother example, the intensity of the UV light emitting pattern mayinitially be increased for longer contacts, but may later be reduced ifthe passage of time corresponds to the portion of the object contactingthe surface being fully or sufficiently sterilized. Following step 440or optional 460, the method 400 proceeds to step 495 where the methodends.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 for sterilizinga surface and an object in contact with the surface. In one embodiment,the method 500 is performed by a device such as tile 100 of FIG. 1, orany of tiles 210-269 of FIG. 2. Alternatively, or in addition, thesteps, functions, or operations of method 500 may be performed by adevice or system 600, and/or processor 602 as described in connectionwith FIG. 6 below. For instance, the system 600 may represent a tile 100of FIG. 1, or any of tiles 210-269 of FIG. 2. For illustrative purposes,the method 500 is described in greater detail below in connection withan example performed by a processor, such as processor 602. The methodbegins in step 505 and proceeds to step 510.

At step 510, the processor detects, via the touch sensor, a tactilestate of a device of the processor. For instance, the processor may beembedded in or otherwise comprise a component of a tile such asillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. In one example, step 510 may comprise thesame or similar operations as described above in connection with step310 of the method 300. In addition, the device and one or moreadditional devices may be deployed in a surface, in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

At step 520, the processor reports the tactile state of the device to acontroller. In one example, the controller may be an externalcontroller, e.g., external to a surface or grid formed of a number oftiles, in accordance with the present disclosure. In another example,the controller may be another device/tile forming the surface which isin communication with the device of the processor. In one example, thetactile state may be reported as being either a “contact” state or a“non-contact” state. In one example, the tactile state that is reportedmay further indicate a pressure or amount of force of a contact. In oneexample, the reporting of step 520 may be via wired or wirelesscommunication depending upon the particular configuration of the systemand the capabilities of the processor and the controller.

At step 530, the processor receives an instruction from the controller,the instruction for operating a UV light source of the device. In oneexample, the instruction may be sent as described above in connectionwith step 440 of the method 400.

At step 540, the processor implements an action associated with the UVlight source in response to the instruction. For instance, the processormay activate the UV light source, may activate the UV light source witha particular intensity, a particular rate of increase or decay of theintensity, a particular band or bands of UV light, a particular durationof application, and so forth, depending upon the contents of theinstruction. In another example, the processor may suppress anactivation of the UV light source. For instance, the processor may beconfigured to activate the UV light source in one or more UV bands inresponse to the detection of a contact of an object with the device viaa touch sensor of the device. However, an instruction received from thecontroller within a certain period of time directing the processor tonot activate the UV light source may override this defaultconfiguration. Following step 540, the method 500 proceeds to step 595where the method ends.

It should be noted that any of the methods 300, 400, and 500 may beexpanded to include additional steps or may be modified to includeadditional operations with respect to the steps outlined above. Forexample, the respective methods 300, 400, and 500 may be repeatedthrough various cycles of touch sensor signals and applications of UVlight emission patterns. For instance, in one example, the method 400may comprise tracking a person's footprints as the person walks across asurface and successively reducing the intensity and/or duration ofapplication of UV light for each successive footstep. In such anexample, the activation of UV light may also be suppressed after acertain number of footsteps, e.g., after it is assumed that the soles ofthe user's shoes or bare feet have been fully or sufficientlysterilized. Accordingly, in one example, the pattern of contact may bedetermined at step 420 to comprise multiple contacts with the surface,and the UV light emitting pattern selected at optional step 430 maycomprise an application of a diminishing intensity or a diminishingduration of UV light for each successive contact of the multiplecontacts. In addition, various types of device and surfaces other thanthose specifically mentioned may be the subject of the respectivemethods 300-500.

In addition, although not specifically specified, one or more steps,functions or operations of the respective methods 300-500 may include astoring, displaying and/or outputting step as required for a particularapplication. In other words, any data, records, fields, and/orintermediate results discussed in the method can be stored, displayedand/or outputted either on the device executing the method or to anotherdevice, as required for a particular application. Furthermore, steps,blocks, functions or operations in any of FIGS. 3-5 that recite adetermining operation or involve a decision do not necessarily requirethat both branches of the determining operation be practiced. In otherwords, one of the branches of the determining operation can be deemed asan optional step. Furthermore, steps, blocks, functions or operations ofthe above described method(s) can be combined, separated, and/orperformed in a different order from that described above, withoutdeparting from the example examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts a high-level block diagram of a computing device orprocessing system specifically programmed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. As depicted in FIG. 6, the processing system 600comprises one or more hardware processor elements 602 (e.g., a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, or a multi-core processor), amemory 604 (e.g., random access memory (RAM) and/or read only memory(ROM)), a module 605 for sterilizing a surface and an object in contactwith the surface, and various input/output devices 306 (e.g., storagedevices, including but not limited to, a tape drive, a floppy drive, ahard disk drive or a compact disk drive, a receiver, a transmitter, aspeaker, a display, a speech synthesizer, an output port, an input portand a user input device (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, amicrophone and the like)). In accordance with the present disclosureinput/output devices 606 may also include touch sensors, UV lightsources, e.g., UV LEDs, transceivers, power units, and so forth.Although only one processor element is shown, it should be noted thatthe computing device may employ a plurality of processor elements.Furthermore, although only one computing device is shown in the figure,if the method 300, method 400, or method 500 as discussed above isimplemented in a distributed or parallel manner for a particularillustrative example, i.e., the steps of the above method 300, method400, or method 500, or the entire method 300, method 400, or method 500is implemented across multiple or parallel computing devices, e.g., aprocessing system, then the computing device of this figure is intendedto represent each of those multiple computing devices.

Furthermore, one or more hardware processors can be utilized insupporting a virtualized or shared computing environment. Thevirtualized computing environment may support one or more virtualmachines representing computers, servers, or other computing devices. Insuch virtualized virtual machines, hardware components such as hardwareprocessors and computer-readable storage devices may be virtualized orlogically represented. The hardware processor 602 can also be configuredor programmed to cause other devices to perform one or more operationsas discussed above. In other words, the hardware processor 602 may servethe function of a central controller directing other devices to performthe one or more operations as discussed above.

It should be noted that the present disclosure can be implemented insoftware and/or in a combination of software and hardware, e.g., usingapplication specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable gatearray (PGA) including a Field PGA, or a state machine deployed on ahardware device, a computing device or any other hardware equivalents,e.g., computer readable instructions pertaining to the method discussedabove can be used to configure a hardware processor to perform thesteps, functions and/or operations of the above disclosed method 300,method 400, or method 500. In one example, instructions and data for thepresent module or process 605 for sterilizing a surface and an object incontact with the surface (e.g., a software program comprisingcomputer-executable instructions) can be loaded into memory 604 andexecuted by hardware processor element 602 to implement the steps,functions or operations as discussed above in connection with theillustrative method 300, method 400, and/or method 500. Furthermore,when a hardware processor executes instructions to perform “operations,”this could include the hardware processor performing the operationsdirectly and/or facilitating, directing, or cooperating with anotherhardware device or component (e.g., a co-processor and the like) toperform the operations.

The processor executing the computer readable or software instructionsrelating to the above described method can be perceived as a programmedprocessor or a specialized processor. As such, the present module 605for sterilizing a surface and an object in contact with the surface(including associated data structures) of the present disclosure can bestored on a tangible or physical (broadly non-transitory)computer-readable storage device or medium, e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, ROM memory, RAM memory, magnetic or optical drive,device or diskette and the like. Furthermore, a “tangible”computer-readable storage device or medium comprises a physical device,a hardware device, or a device that is discernible by the touch. Morespecifically, the computer-readable storage device may comprise anyphysical devices that provide the ability to store information such asdata and/or instructions to be accessed by a processor or a computingdevice such as a computer or an application server.

While various examples have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of illustration only,and not a limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of any aspect of thepresent disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-describedexamples, but should be defined only in accordance with the followingclaims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising a plurality of tiles, whereineach tile of the plurality of tiles comprises: an ultraviolet lightsource comprising ultraviolet emitters in a plurality of ultravioletwavelength bands; a touch sensor; a processor; and a computer-readablemedium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, causethe processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:detecting, via the touch sensor of a respective tile, a tactile state ofthe respective tile; detecting a tactile state of at least oneadditional tile of the plurality of tiles; determining, based upon thetactile state of the respective tile and the tactile state of the atleast one additional tile, that the respective tile is on an interior ofa pattern of contact between an object and a surface comprising therespective tile and the at least one additional tile; and activating theultraviolet light source in response to the determining that therespective tile is on the interior of the pattern of contact, whereinthe activating comprises applying at least one ultraviolet wavelengthband of the plurality of ultraviolet wavelength bands based on a type ofthe object.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the tactile state of therespective tile is a contact state and the tactile state of the at leastone additional tile is a contact state.
 3. The device of claim 2,wherein the activating comprises increasing an intensity of theultraviolet light source.
 4. The device of claim 2, wherein theactivating comprises activating only an ultraviolet C-band portion ofthe ultraviolet light source when the object is bare skin.
 5. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the tactile state of the respective tile is acontact state and the tactile state of the at least one additional tileis a non-contact state.
 6. The device of claim 5, further comprising:suppressing an activation of the ultraviolet light source at least in aregion of the at least one additional tile.
 7. The device of claim 1,further comprising: a power source, wherein the power source comprisesat least one of: a piezoelectric transducer; a fluid motion captureunit; or a solar cell.
 8. The device of claim 1, wherein the respectivetile includes a pattern that defines an interlocking with a plurality ofadditional tiles of the plurality of tiles including the at least oneadditional tile to form the surface.
 9. The device of claim 1, furthercomprising: a transceiver, wherein the detecting the tactile state ofthe at least one additional tile comprises receiving data regarding thetactile state of the at least one additional tile via the transceiver.10. The device of claim 1, wherein the surface comprises: a floor; anescalator; a travellator; or a conveyor belt.
 11. The device of claim 1,wherein the activating comprises applying a first ultraviolet wavelengthband of the plurality of ultraviolet wavelength bands near a firstregion of the object and applying a second ultraviolet wavelength bandof the plurality of ultraviolet wavelength bands near a second region ofthe object.
 12. The device of claim 1, further comprising: identifyingthe object by matching the pattern of contact to a pattern in a libraryof known patterns.
 13. A method comprising: detecting, by a processor ofa first tile of a device comprising a plurality of tiles, a tactilestate of the first tile via a touch sensor; detecting, by the processor,a tactile state of at least one additional tile of the plurality oftiles; determining, by the processor, based upon the tactile state ofthe first tile and the tactile state of the at least one additionaltile, that the first tile is on an interior of a pattern of contactbetween an object and a surface comprising the first tile and the atleast one additional tile; and activating, by the processor, anultraviolet light source in response to the determining that the firstthe is on the interior of the pattern of contact, wherein the activatingcomprises applying at least one ultraviolet wavelength band of aplurality of ultraviolet wavelength bands based on a type of the object.14. The method of claim 13, wherein the tactile state of the first tileis a contact state and the tactile state of the at least one additionaltile is a contact state.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein theactivating comprises increasing an intensity of the ultraviolet lightsource.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the activating comprisesactivating only an ultraviolet C-band portion of the ultraviolet lightsource when the object is bare skin.
 17. The method of claim 13, whereinthe tactile state of the first tile is a contact state and the tactilestate of the at least one additional tile is a non-contact state. 18.The method of claim 17, further comprising: suppressing an activation ofthe ultraviolet light source at least in a region of the at least oneadditional tile.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein the first tileincludes a pattern that defines an interlocking with a plurality ofadditional tiles including the at least one additional tile to form thesurface.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform operations, the operations comprising: detecting a tactile stateof a first tile of a device comprising a plurality of tiles via a touchsensor; detecting a tactile state of at least one additional tile of theplurality of tiles; determining based upon the tactile state of thefirst tile and the tactile state of the at least one additional tile,that the first tile is on an interior of a pattern of contact between anobject and a surface comprising the first tile and the at least oneadditional tile; and activating an ultraviolet light source in responseto the determining that the first tile is on the interior of the patternof contact, wherein the activating comprises applying at least oneultraviolet wavelength band of a plurality of ultraviolet wavelengthbands based on a type of the object.